On August 16, the Padres lost shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to a stress reaction in his lower back. To replace him, San Diego called up infielder Ty France, who was hitting .399/.477/.770 with 27 home runs and 89 runs batted in in 76 games with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate.
France had made his first stint in the big leagues in late-April to replace Tatis for a first time, and was optioned back to Triple-A in June when Tatis returned. Appearing in 34 games, France was batting .235/.290/.357 and hit his first two career jacks.
When Ty France was called up for his second big league stint in mid-August, he was playing a new position. The Padres knew the now-second baseman could hit down on the farm, but now it was time for him to show it on the big stage.
Through his first 14 games back in San Diego, Ty France was just hitting a mediocre .188/.235/.250 and only played the full game 3 times.
In Sunday’s series finale win in San Francisco, Ty France hit the third homer of his Major League career and put the Padres up 3-2. Four innings later, France struck a first-pitch fastball to the right field wall to add 3 more insurance runs for San Diego. It was France’s first multi-homer game in his big league career.
A day later, the team was in Phoenix to begin a 3-game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ty France was in the starting lineup and batting sixth again as he had a chance to become the first Padre with back-to-back multi-homer games since 2007. France led off the second inning with a first-pitch lasered line drive to center field for a base hit. 4 innings later, France was up again, and hit his second 3-run jack in as many days. This was also on the first pitch as the San Diego State alumnus continued to hit off first pitches.
France reached base in the 8th on a fielder’s choice that ended without an out recorded and began a rally that ended in San Diego scoring 3 runs with small ball.
In 2 games, Ty France went 4-for-9 (.444) with 3 roundtrippers and 7 runs batted in. He increased his batting average by 15 points and on-base plus slugging percentage 82 points (now .690).
Game notes:
Starting pitcher Cal Quantrill gave up 8 earned runs through 5 innings and his earned run average has gone up from 3.32 to 4.57 in just 2 starts. Quantrill earned his sixth loss of the season and his ERA is at its highest point since July 3.
Manuel Margot, Nick Martini, Eric Hosmer, and Ty France each turned in multi-hit efforts Monday afternoon as the Padres have had multiple multi-hit efforts in each of their last 3 games. San Diego’s bats are also averaging 10 hits per game during the 2-city road trip.
Since joining the Padres, Nick Martini has recorded a hit in each of his 3 starts, going 5-for-13 and a run-scoring single in Monday’s blowout loss to Arizona.
Next up:
The Padres will send Ronald Bolanos to the mound for his big-league debut to start a bullpen game for San Diego. Through 5 “bullpen” games this season, Andy Green’s club has not won a single one yet as the relievers have struggled to put the Padres in position to win a game.
Arizona’s right-handed pitcher Merrill Kelly will get the ball as the D-Backs will go for their 8th win in 9 games. The rookie starter went just 4 innings, giving up 3 runs and 3 hits against the Dodgers’ lineup. Kelly did not factor into the decision as Arizona came back to win the game.
The middle game of the series will be played at Arizona’s Chase Field with a 6:40 PM first pitch. The Diamondbacks are 34-33 in 67 games at home while San Diego is 33-36 on the road. A win for the Padres will clinch a winning record on the road trip after taking 3 of 4 in San Francisco.
